Asif Peer started his career with Systems Limited in 1996 and he has been associated with the company for 19 years now. He has moved back to Pakistan as the Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of Systems Limited and is very ambitious about uplifting Pakistan in global markets.
In your new role, how was the responsibility changed?
We are basically an export oriented company. The majority of our work was coming from US and abroad when I was managing the portfolio. We had to be well aware of different cultures and markets in the offshore center as well. The responsibility in my role has changed if you look at it from the challenge perspective. I’m trained to the new market and my mission was to open up the geography, which is very challenging. Last year we grew about 60 to 70 percent in range. This year we are expecting a 100 % growth as compared to the year before and are very close to achieving this goal.
What is Systems Limited technology driven strategy?
We are technology agnostic. That’s what we claim and that’s what we truly are when it comes to IT. We are aligned horizontally technology wise in creating the resources which we believe are in demand in the local industry as well as GCC countries and the US. So our strategy and focus are aligned from top to bottom and we call this a center of excellence. We don’t believe in traditional business process outsourcing. Our work processing is digitized and we use workflow and management tools to provide visibility in 360 degrees. And that is what allows us to cover both ends of the world.
Every organization is different and you need to be nimble in your execution. Therefore, we have developed accelerators in the frame works in all these technologies and that becomes our asset. You need to have a quick time to market – that’s what you clients want. We have invested on a couple of products in our product driven strategy as well. We have our HRP and ERP based solutions that we have been focusing to create those accelerators in the Microsoft Dynamics ERP space. We also have supply chain business intelligence, retail business intelligence and numerous other products. The key strategy is about not focusing only on selling one product and solution. Companies in Pakistan create one product and want to sell its license. It’s a good model but if the marketers are saturated, you barely have any diversification, which requires you to start all over again.
How is energy a part of your corporate culture? What’s the payoff?
Basically, culture starts from the top. So we are an employee owned organization and active management owns the major part of the company. Everyone is motivated to grow because it pays off and deliversto ourselves only. I believe that is the main motivational factor, not found in many companies, especially in our sector. Human resource is our strategic capital and it is what I had as an asset of everything. We take care of them; we motivate them; having part of them in our partnership and employee ownership programs.
There are fifteen hundred people in a group and around five hundred and fifty of them are in our technology agnostic like resources that we have. This number is going to increase in the next few months. So managing, retaining, and grooming these talents is the real challenge.
How has your journey been so far in the last one and a half years that you have taken your new role?
From market insight perspective, we have picked up very aggressively and in Pakistan we have strategized in two spheres. In public sector, we are at least ten years behind because there are lots of papers, no work flow and no processes. We lack in terms of best practices. The population is growing everyday and I think the public sector has started to realize that they need technology to meet the challenges. There are a lot of technology initiatives, donor agencies like World Bank, USAID – they are coming up with the projects about which we are heavily focused.
One area of the focus is public sector because we believe that there are no strong arms than systems to deliver enterprise class large public sector initiatives in both business process outsourcing and in technology. We know that it is very hard to do one another industry in this competitive world where there are already a lot of issues and challenges. The private sector is also picking up and whoever is in the markets knows that they are expanding because their returns are great. If they do not invest in the technology now, they will not be able to manage that growth. That’s a huge opportunity for us.
In UAE, we have a lot of demand because we compete with Indian resources. They are sending their good talents to the US and Europe and not focusing on those markets – and it is creating a niche for us.
Tell us about your competitors in the local and regional spheres? What makes Systems Limited stand out? How do you strengthen strategic partnerships with other organizations and add clients and vendors to the organization’s portfolio?
Regionally, there are many. We compete within the US and these are the same companies that compete with us in the regional markets. They are everywhere, wherever you go. In Pakistan, I honestly say that there are small companies and they have common competition, which is good. But larger organizations in Pakistan like us, we had the same model but for the past few years we started refocusing.
Large organizations are either working for just US market or they don’t have that many resources to expand in Pakistani market. So I don’t see that there is a real competition. We compete with the players but wherever there is a price war; then it is a different ball game. And when the quality does not matter but the price, of course we lose. Otherwise we compete distinctively.
Can you please share your vision and passion for Systems Limited with us?
We are well established entity and our vision is to maintain top position in Pakistan from Software perspective and IT enabled services provider. We want to be playing our critical part in corporate social responsibility, which I believe generates employment in our country for our folks; training them; and grooming them for boosting our economy. Currently, Pakistan’s software export is approximately 440 million dollars while India is at 86 billion dollars annually. We are playing our part to reduce that trade deficit and empower software export as the way forward.
Based on your experience in enterprise mobility, tell us about the key considerations to look at.
If we just take it in Pakistan’s context, we are ten years behind as we have waited too long for 3G and 4G services. I think every organization now needs enterprise mobility strategy and there is no exception anymore. If your website is not responsive and it doesn’t work on the mobile, you are way behind. It’s m-commerce now. The next step is expanding – and that’s what we see.
We are expecting 40% of spending in the next few years on cloud computing and enterprise mobility because these are the two things that people are heavily focused on. In Pakistan, especially, if you look at it, we have 20 million cell phone subscribers. About 18% of these subscribers are smartphone users. Plus, we have a younger generation coming so you can imagine the growth and demand of services in the mobile space.
Your advice to leaders of tomorrow and young entrepreneurs
I think for the young generation my key message is that they need to look from the career perspective. What I have seen as the major difference from when we graduated and now we see the resources, they are not that career oriented and they switch jobs here and there for a few thousand rupees. I think that culture hurts – it hurts the personal growth that you can achieve in one organization and it also hurts that you don’t go to the next level. Your resume or credibility at times hurts as well when you are switching so many jobs just for financial gains. You have to look for the career perspective in a long term scenario. Don’t look for the short term goals. If you are satisfied in your job, and you are taking a little bit less, and if you want to look at the bigger picture, then I would suggest that’s a better bet. You can see a lot such examples at Systems Limited.
Additional comments
When I was in the US, I saw that people created a synergy and partnerships with their governments and generated jobs. Right now we are struggling, and we have to sell ourselves first and then our country. People do not want to travel to Pakistan. That’s an unfortunate scenario, but also a fact. We really need to portray the softer image of Pakistan. It is crucial for our economic growth. Everything else comes second, to be honest.
How do you spend your spare time?
I spend time with my family when I am free.
What are your favorite applications?
I love all the products of Apple as I am a Mac user. At this time I don’t use any applications other than Outlook, Word, Excel and Power Point. I used LinkedIn application for professional purpose.
Alternate career if you were not in IT?
I would be a finance guy otherwise. That’s what I love. Number crunching.
